Ahmed Sajjad Zaidi

Unix/Linux Administrator,RHCE



Personal Details

    Primary Email

    sajjad@sajjadzaidi.com

    Mobile/Home Tel.

     



Objective

    To utilize my technical and project management experience in working for an organization that utilizes cutting-edge technology in providing secure and robust solutions.



Achievements


    • Implemented country-wide migration of Dancom's NOC department to Linux for desktop use

    • Designed and implemented a distributed LDAP-based email system for Dancom with advanced anti-spam features

    • Oversaw implementation of ISO-9000 certification for Cogilent Solutions' Network, Systems and Support department

  • Author of Pylogger, an application for web logging (blogging) that supports templates, comments and various other features

  • Author of PyKey, passphrase generator

  • Managed the deployment of a customized web-based email system for the Pakistan Army

  • Setup email virus detection systems while at Vanguard K.K. and Dancom Online Services

  • Wrote and managed part of the Mojo software build system at Vanguard K.K.

  • Implemented a secure auto-update mechanism using secure shell for software running on customer servers

  • Setup a new email system and coordinated a live switchover to it for Digital Garage, Inc.

  • Created scripts to monitor Internet connectivity and load balance traffic between different connections at iinix Solutions

  • Obtained Red Hat's Red Hat Certified Engineer certification while in Japan



Employment History

    Dancom Online Services

    (Broadband ISP) – Islamabad, Pakistan

    Asst. Manager Systems/NOC Head - April 2006 till present

    • Country-wide head of systems

    • Hiring, training and team building of systems resources

    • Administrative head of Network Operations Center for North Zone

    Cogilent Solutions

    (VOIP/Mail/Networking Solutions) – Islamabad, Pakistan

    Manager Operations – November 2005 to March 2006

    • Management of network and system projects

    • Streamlining development and distribution processes for network products

    Dancom Online Services

    (Broadband ISP) – Islamabad, Pakistan

    Assistant Manager Systems - July 2004 to September 2005

    • Management of the company's Linux & Solaris servers

    • Technical assistance to clients and billing software issues

    iinix Solutions

    (Software Services) - Islamabad, Pakistan

    Founder/Sr. System Administrator – July 2003 to present

    • Deciding authority on all technical issues

    • Overall in charge of all corporate decision making

    • Setup a customized email system for the Pakistan Army

    Digital Garage, Inc.

    (Software Integrator) - Tokyo, Japan

    System Administrator - January 2002 to June 2003

    • General system and network administration including various servers, security and Internet connectivity

    • Management of client and company servers

    Vanguard K.K.

    (Software Developer) - Tokyo, Japan
    (acquired by Digital Garage, Inc. in January 2002)

    System/Network Administrator - July 2000 to Dec 2001

    • General system and network administration and security

    • Building, testing and installation of product and accompanying packages

    VCN

    (Computer Hardware Vendor) - Tokyo, Japan

    Hardware Engineer - September 1998 to June 2000

    • Did setup and repair of laptops, workstations and servers

    BIGTech

    (Office Hardware Supplier) - Islamabad, Pakistan

    Hardware Engineer - October 1997 to August 1998

    • Computer assembly and support

    Info Vest Pvt. Ltd.

    (Futures trading company) - Singapore

    Trade Engineer - December 1995 to September 1996

    • Commodities market analysis using Knight Ridder software





Technical Skills

    Operating Systems and Distributions:

    • Advanced experience with Red Hat (including RHEL, CentOS and Fedora), Slackware and Debian Linux

    • Solaris administration (Solaris 8, 9, 10 on SPARC and Intel)

    • NetBSD, FreeBSD and various other UNIX flavors

    Network Apps:

  • Advanced user of Secure Shell (ssh,scp,sftp)

  • MRTG and SNMP for switches, routers and dslams

    • Squid proxy server setup, optimization and maintenance

    • Web servers such as Apache, Tomcat and Resin

    • Standard services such as DNS, SMB, NFS and DHCP

    • Advanced spam/virus protection, virtual host setup and database authentication using Exim (Linux and Solaris)

    • Experienced with Qmail, Sendmail and Postfix MTAs

    • Mailman, mluser and smartlist mailing list softwares

    • Linux clustering using Mosix

    • Asterisk Setup

    Security:

    • Software (iptables, ipchains) and hardware firewalls

    • PGP encryption and signatures

    • Experienced with tools such as Tripwire, Snort and Nmap

    • Have written scripts for easier maintenance of the above

    Programming:

    • Fluent in Python, Perl and Bash scripting

    • Have worked with gcc and javac compilers

    • Building of simple to complex development environments with tools such as CVS, Bugzilla and SourceForge

    • Currently writing CMS in Python

    • Have customized Mailman, the mailing list software

    • Have written analyzers for Apache log files

    • Writer of a web/console password application (PyKey)

    • Creator of Pylogger, a web-logging application

    System:

    • Good knowledge of Linux kernel configuration

    • Excellent knowledge of Linux file systems

    • Software and Hardware RAID (levels 0, 1 and 5)

    • Backups (Bru, tar and custom scripts) and data recovery

    Databases:

    • Extensive experience with PostgreSQL and MySQL on Linux and Solaris

    • Oracle and Sybase (12.5) installation on Linux & Solaris

    Hardware:

    • Local Area Networks (LAN), 802.11b/g Wireless LANs

    • Basic knowledge of DSLAMs and Cisco routers

    • Installation and maintenance of servers at hosting centers

    • Cobalt server deployment

    • Building systems from scratch and hardware troubleshooting

    • Setup of Dialogic (Intel) fax boards

    • Optimization of server hardware for the required tasks



Other Activities

    Tokyo Linux Users Group - Tokyo, Japan

    Lead Sys Admin (voluntary) - Jul 2002 to Jun 2004

    • In charge of general security and administration of server.

    Tokyo PC Users Group - Tokyo, Japan

    Webmaster Committee (voluntary) - Jan 2000 to Jun 2003

    • Decisions regarding the group's website and server

    • Everyday server maintenance


Languages

    English

    Fluent in both written and spoken

    Urdu

    Fluent in both written and spoken

    Japanese

    Conversational and some reading skills

    German

    Basic knowledge. Introductory course at National University of Modern Languages (NIML), Islamabad


Hobbies and Interests

    Snowboarding, swimming, martial arts, hiking, movies, traveling, blogging and reading


References

  • Tim Romero, President, Vanguard KK Japan

  • Osman Haq, Project Manager, Ministry of IT (PSEB) Pakistan

    Further references available upon request